St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-17
POWERS OF THE LEGIsLATURE.

POWERS OF THE LEGISLATURE.
Articles 40 to S5, inclusive, provide, IN
substance, as follows:
1.-The people shall exercise the legisla-
tive power through the storthing, which
shsll be separated into two bodieS-the
lagthing and the odelsthing.
''The members of the stOrthing are
chosen by the suffrage of those NOrwe-
gian male citizens in full possession OF
their civil rights, % years of age, who
have been resident in Norway for five,
years previous to the election. The
election is indirect, and the constitution
requires property qualifications OF ltS
citizens. The members of the StorthinR
must be not less than 30 years of age.
and must have been ten years resident
of the kingdom. The body has the
power of self-assembly on the first
working day of the month of February
of every third year, the king having the
| power to call only an eXtraor-
dinary session. When assembled, the
! body verifies the election of its members,
and they enjoy perfect freedom of
|. speech and debate in the assembly. The
king opens the session of the storthing
in person OF by representative. Once
assembled and its session opened, the
StOrthing separates itself into two bodies
by choosing One-fourth of its members
to form the lagthing, the remaining
-three-fourthS composing the odelsthing.
Bills OF projects of law are initiated in
the OdelSthing, either by the motion of
a member or minister of the crown. A
bill passed by the Odelsthing is then
sent to, the lagthing, which bOdy can
only accept or reject, but not modify.
The executive may veto any bill, but
if the third succeeding storthing passes
the same project, unchanged, in both
houses or i'll united assembly 1t
then becomes law without the
approval of the crown, should that
be still refused. The storthing may
not remain in session longer than three
months without the kings cons Sent
The king may adjourn or prorOgue the
storthing, but not dissolve it. The pro-
must be published, except the contrary
be voted by the majority of the MEM
berS.
THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT.
1t will not be at all necessary to, the
purpose of this sketch to give an ex-
hauStive description of this department.
But according to article S6 of the con-
stitution:
There shall be constituted a court,
consisting of the members of the lag
thing and the judges of the supreme
court of the kingdom. CThe latter are,
as we have seen, appointed by the king.)
This organization is called the rigs
ret, is presided over by the
president of the lagthing, and
has jurisdiction over the members
of the council of state and the judges of
the supreme court for malfeaSance in
Office, and over the members of the
ktorthing for any crime which they as
such may commit. The prosecution in
this court may be undertaken by the
Odelsthing and the accused may object
to two-thirdS of the members of the
court, and have trial before the other
third only.
THE USUAL GUARANTEES.
Finally, the constitution contains the
usual guarantees of the constitutional
state in reference to the private rights
of the individual, viz, freedom and Sc
curity OF person and property, and free
hand, the state has an established re-
ligion-the. Lutheran-which, by the
way, is very intOlerant indeed.
Here we have the form of constitution
which, in distinction from the cabinet
system, may be termed presidential-the
form in which the executive power is
independent of the legislature in its
tenure, and is not necessarily in polit-
ical agreement with it. Nevertheless,
how these powers have adjusted them
selves historically is, however, ques-
! ton of tremendous importance. In fact,
the whole magnitude of the social ques-
tion of Norway lies hidden behind it.
| The continuation of this subject will
be found on the Ninth page].